Jilin Province, Yingtun, Li Xiaochang’s home.

After the snow fell in winter, Mr. Li completely entered hibernation mode.

Opposite the Li family’s door is the village grocery store, where familiar villagers gather every day. The small groups either get together to watch cards or drink. They lead a slow-paced life, and although their days are not rich, they are extremely leisurely.

On this day, a large Jiefang brand truck drove into the village with great fanfare.

Bicycles are rare in the village, let alone large trucks.

As soon as the Jiefang truck entered the village, it was discovered by the village children, who chased it.

The big truck soon stopped at the entrance of the village. Qiao Muzhou and Wang Yufei got out of the truck and walked straight into the store through the door.

"Are you from outside? Is there something wrong?" The shop owner Lao Qian stood up and asked.

Qiao Muzhou was very experienced in dealing with strangers when he went out. With a smile on his face, he took out a cigarette with a mouthpiece and passed it around without opening his mouth.

"Hello, I want to ask, this is Yingtun, right? Is Li Xiaochang from our village? I came to see him for something, and I heard from a friend that he lives at the entrance of the village!"

When the name Li Xiaochang was heard, a man in his sixties with gray hair and cunning eyes stood up next to the card table.

"You're looking for me? I'm Li Xiaochang, who are you?"

"Are you Li Wenzhe's uncle? I'm Zhou Sanwa's friend. I want to discuss something with you. Would you mind talking for a moment?"

After hearing Li Wenzhe's words, Li Xiaochang's originally calm expression immediately turned a little colder.

"I have something to say right now. I still need to look at the cards! I lost a lot of money in the last few rounds. If you leave the table now, will the losses be yours?"

Li Wenzhe was beaten at the Air Force Base. He was so angry that he went home and called people to fight. As a result, he was arrested for attacking a military vehicle and active-duty servicemen.

Li Xiaochang is Li Wenzhe's uncle, and a relative within the fifth degree of mourning.

After his man was beaten, he came back to call for help. Li Xiaochang's son Li Dabao also participated in the ambush. As a result, he was stabbed and beaten, and was imprisoned for a while.

Later, with the mediation of Qian Zhaoqiang, most of the charges were taken against Li Wenzhe and his son, and Li Dabao was released.

The news some time ago was that Li Wenzhe was sentenced to ten years and his son was sentenced to eight years. Currently, only Li Wenzhe and his wife are left at home, taking care of their elderly parents-in-law.

When his son went to help fight, he thought it was just an ordinary fight. However, due to Li Wenzhe's deliberate concealment, it turned out that the targets of the attack were military vehicles and active-duty soldiers. He almost got into trouble. This made the relationship between Li Wenzhe's family and Li Xiaochang's family a little tense.

Now a stranger came to see him and mentioned Li Wenzhe's name. Li Xiaochang didn't give him a good face at all.

"What's wrong with you..." Xiao Fei saw that the other party was speaking impolitely and was about to say something bad.

Qiao Muzhou grabbed Xiaofei and nodded repeatedly, saying, "Okay, okay, it's on me! How much money did you lose? I'll give it to you! I came here this time just to give you money!"

"I'm still losing 3... No, 37 dollars!!"

Qiao Muzhou didn't bother to find out whether it was real or not. He just reached into his pocket, took out a stack of big unity bills, and without hesitation, picked out four brand new big bills.

"This will make up for your loss. Let's talk for a moment!"

Everyone at the gambling table saw the thick stack of bills in Qiao Muzhou's hand, especially Li Xiaochang, who subconsciously swallowed his saliva.

Seeing that the other party was so happy, Li Xiaochang pretended to be calm, took the money and left the table.

After leaving the store with Qiao Muzhou, Li Xiaochang asked, "Tell me, what do you want to talk to me about?
Zhou Sanwa does know my son Dabao, but they are just ordinary friends! The money just now is to compensate me for my loss at the table, you can't ask for it back!"

Qiao Muzhou laughed and said nonchalantly: "Haha, it's just a small amount of money. Since I've told you it, I naturally don't want it!

I heard from Sanwa that is there anyone in your family who knows how to train and release hawks?

I'm here to ask for your help to get a few eagles! As long as the goods are good, the price is negotiable!"

"You plan to buy an eagle? What kind of eagle? How much can you afford?"

After Li Xiaochang heard Qiao Saner's purpose of visit, his mind immediately became active.

There is indeed a tradition of falcon training in Yingtun. A large number of the old households in the village are descendants of the Manchu people, and their ancestors trained and caught eagles as tribute to the emperor.

This place is close to Songjiang. Apart from slightly richer fishery resources, it is quite far from any decent mountains and forests. There are no minerals such as coal mines underground, and no plans such as forest farms. Therefore, large areas are primitive rural areas with a very underdeveloped economy.

Under such circumstances, although the tradition of falconry and hunting has not been cut off, it is basically a hobby and is supplemented by supplementing family income.

During the slack season, the eagle hunter would go to the nearby ravines and wastelands to catch small animals such as pheasants and rabbits.

Li Wenzhe knows the family tradition of falcon training, and Li Xiaochang knows it too, but they are not very interested in it and have not tinkered with it for more than ten years. However, the experience accumulated when they were young is still there.

Now a man driving a big truck came to him and wanted to spend money to buy an eagle. Judging from his behavior, he definitely has money. In Li Xiaochang's eyes, this is a good opportunity!
When asked, Qiao Saner replied: "It would be best if it was a big eagle that could catch pheasants and rabbits. If there is none, a kite that can catch chickens and flying dragons would also be fine!"

It's freezing cold outside, how about we go to your house and talk in detail?"

At this point, Li Xiaochang finally reacted: "Yes, yes, yes, let's go to my house! Let's go to my house and talk in detail. Let my wife stew pork and sauerkraut for you for lunch! My house is just across the street, follow me!"

Soon, Qiao Muzhou followed Li Xiaochang into the Li family yard.

Li Xiaochang's family didn't live a good life. They didn't have any decent furniture or appliances. The house was not neat and tidy, with all kinds of miscellaneous items scattered around, giving it a messy feeling.

"Hurry up, get on the kang and warm up! Dahuaer, this is my friend. We're having lunch at home. Please prepare some decent dishes for him!"

When Li Xiaochang's wife heard that the old man brought friends home for dinner, she opened her mouth to scold him, but when she saw the brand new ten-yuan banknote handed over by Li Xiaochang, she immediately took the money with a smile on her face and turned into the kitchen in the back room.

After getting on the kang, Li Xiaochang said slowly, "There must be no kites at this time of year, as they have already flown south to warmer places for the winter!

If you want to buy a big eagle, I can help you contact them!

There are not many people in our village who know how to train and release hawks. There are only a few old men in our family who are older than me!

This big eagle is a valuable thing. In the early years, it was a large animal worth as much as cattle and sheep.

After the autumn harvest, they can be kept until the twelfth lunar month. When the temperature warms up the following year, they will be released or put into cages one after another until Qingming Festival!
Life was hard at that time and we couldn’t afford meat. Apart from slaughtering the New Year pig, if we wanted to have some meat at other times, we had to rely on it!”

Qiao Muzhou also had a preliminary understanding of these common sense things. He listened patiently to what Li Xiaochang said and then nodded: "If there is a big eagle, then let's buy a big eagle.

Please give me a rough idea of ​​the price. If it’s suitable, please take me to have a look!
Don't worry, I won't let you work in vain. For each eagle, in addition to the selling price, I will give you an extra 100 yuan for the sewing!"

When Li Xiaochang heard that the bribe was one hundred yuan, his heart skipped a beat.

In his eyes, how much is a big eagle worth? A hundred yuan in commission alone is a huge sum of money.

This autumn at the Dongnan Village market, Old Sun, who had been hunting hawks all his life, was selling an ordinary-looking large hawk of bean-colored color. He asked for only 60 yuan, but after trying for several sessions without success, he got so angry that he simply killed it and ate its meat.

If this eagle was kept until now and sold to the wealthy 'Broadhead' in front of him, it would cost at least three to five hundred yuan. After all, he already paid a hundred yuan for the sewing!
Li Xiaochang remained calm and continued to ask, "Do you want to train a good one, or do you want a new one? It's snowing now, and some falconers are too old to go out, so they are slowly giving birth to new falcons. But the ones that are left are all good ones, and the quality is definitely no problem!"

Qiao Saner replied: "Of course, the best ones are the ones that are cooked and alive. If there are none, the raw ones are also OK, but the price is lower.

You get what you pay for, and I’m not completely ignorant of this business! ”

"Okay, don't worry. It's almost time for dinner. Let's eat at home first. After dinner, I'll take you there!"

"Okay! I'm really sorry to trouble you!"

"We are all friends, it's just a small matter!"

……

After a brief chat, Li Xiaochang's wife prepared lunch.

Money makes things easier. Li Xiaochang's wife went to the store to buy some canned food, and then scooped some pork slices from her own lard jar to stew a big pot of sauerkraut.

In Li Xiaochang's opinion, this was already a pretty good standard of food, as one could not afford to eat such good food in normal life. But for Qiao Saner, it was just enough to get by.

Thinking about buying the eagle, Qiao Muzhou only ate a symbolic bite of the lunch. Only Xiaofei and Li Xiaochang drank some loose wine, while Qiao Muzhou did not touch a single drop of loose wine.

After drinking, Li Xiaochang talked more. Under Qiao Saner's guidance, he talked a lot about releasing and training hawks when he was young.

Anyway, the legends of the older generation plus personal experiences, plus the free-wheeling talk after drinking, made for a confusing bunch of nonsense, and its authenticity was extremely limited, but it still scared Qiao Muzhou.

After eating and drinking, Qiao Muzhou looked at his watch frequently. After urging him several times, Li Xiaochang got up and took Qiao Saner to his eldest brother's house in the back street.

"Brother, are you home? I brought you a God of Wealth!!"

Li Xiaochang started shouting as soon as he entered the yard. Soon the door of the main house opened and an old man who looked about the same age as Li Xiaochang walked out.

"Youngest one, you've had too much to drink again, what are you doing?" "Hehe, no, no, I just drank two jars (two glasses) of wine at noon, you don't know how much I can drink! This little bit of wine won't affect anything!"

"You brought people to see me, is there something wrong?"

Li Xiaochang replied, "Yes! A friend of Dabao wants to buy an airplane. He's a big boss and he came here in a big truck. I brought him here to have a look! Didn't you plan to sell your three-year-old dragon a few days ago? The airplane is good and the big boss can give you a high price!"

"Buy an eagle? Come inside first and talk!"

Soon several people were let into the house. The layout of the rooms was similar, but this family's house was much neater and very formal.

After a brief inquiry, Li Xiaochang's eldest brother brought out a large eagle from the warehouse.

This big eagle is estimated to be about 2.34 jin in height, with a strong body, a beautiful and smooth body, and jet-black back feathers with dark gray horizontal stripes on the chest. It looks very beautiful and well-maintained.

Qiao Muzhou had seen the young hawk in Wang Defa's hand, but he had never seen this kind of hawk that had grown into adult feathers. However, he did not show any fear and asked, "Is this the three-year-old dragon that Uncle Li mentioned just now? How about this hawk? How much is it for? Is it for sale?"

The eagle's owner touched the eagle's tail lovingly and said, "This eagle has caught about 70 to 80 rabbits and more than 20 pheasants this winter. I have arthritis, so after the heavy snow and the low temperature, I have released fewer pheasants!
"They are caged like eagles. If they want to work, they have to stay in the cage all night, pick food for half a day and then go to the fields!"

"The eagle is good! It is well cared for! Name a price, and I'll take it if it's suitable!"

"This is the eagle I've kept for two years. It's a faded large blue eagle. It's less..." At Qiao Saner's urging, the seller opened his mouth to name the price.

At the critical moment, Li Xiaochang gave him a provocative look. The seller mentioned the price and paused for a moment before continuing, "I won't sell it for less than 500!"

The other party was eager to make the deal and originally planned to ask for two hundred yuan, but when he saw the youngest brother's wink, he raised the price ruthlessly.

As the saying goes, it is better to run away than to ask for less. Ask for a high price and pay back the money on the spot. Before you know the buyer's true intention, it is better to ask for a higher price. If you really want the buyer, you can negotiate slowly. But if you ask for a low price, you will be exposed and the price cannot be raised any further.

Upon hearing the price of five hundred, Qiao Saner's heart moved slightly. The value of the big eagle he heard from Wang Defa was more than that amount of money. Yue Feng asked for two thousand.

A live rabbit is worth a few dollars, and you can catch several in a day.

By this calculation, you can get your investment back in a little over a month.

I feel it is not expensive, but I still can’t say it.

Qiao Saner frowned slightly: "Tsk, the price is a bit high, can we negotiate it?"

"Then how much can you give?"

"Four hundred, in cash!"

"Deal!!" Four hundred is an unimaginably high price. This big boss is really rich.

After agreeing on the price, Qiao Muzhou immediately took money out of his pocket.

They were all ten-yuan bills, and there was a thick stack of forty of them. Holding them in the hand, they gave off a faint scent of ink.

After counting the money on the spot, Qiao Muzhou quickly reached out to take the big eagle.

In order to show his sincerity, the old seller gave Qiao Muzhou his own rabbit fur sleeves, and the first business deal was a great success.

After the handover was completed, Qiao Muzhou came out of the house holding the eagle, feeling so happy.

This big eagle, which had been in a cage for two years, was much more stable than an eagle caught in the wild. It squatted on the man's arm obediently, just like a familiar eagle.

After they walked away from the seller's door, Li Xiaochang came up to them with a licking face and said, "How about this eagle? My elder brother is famous in the village for handling big eagles. If I hadn't brought you here, outsiders would not easily sell it! My money from the sewing..."

Qiao Muzhou bought the eagle and was in a good mood. He took out another 100 yuan of big unity and handed it to Li Xiaochang without hesitation: "This is your share, we are not short of anything!
Are there any other eagle breeders in the village who sell eagles? If there are suitable ones, I can buy a few more! I have my own eagle, but the ones at home don’t have any yet. If we want to play with them, we need more people to play with them! "

Li Xiaochang took the money and was extremely happy. He earned 140 yuan just by leading the way. He would have to drink a lot of wine and play a lot of cards to spend it all.

Not only that, I was even happier when I heard that you wanted to buy a few more.

One hundred yuan each, and if you can buy two or three, the money you earn from sewing will be several times more!

And that’s not even counting the favor earned from helping to sell the eagle. After the buyer leaves, the owner of the house that sold the eagle will definitely want a thank-you gift as well.

This is the rule that a "broker" should follow. At least 10% is required, which adds up to dozens of dollars.

Thinking of this, Li Xiaochang pretended to be calm and said, "There will definitely be people who will sell it, but the quality of the hawk may not be as good as the caged hawk in my eldest brother's house!
If you can trust me, I can take you to ask!"

"Okay, as long as it's a big eagle that can see through, I'll take it! You can take us around again!"

Soon, under the leadership of Li Xiaochang, Qiao Muzhou and Xiaofei visited several more families raising eagles in the village.

After some inquiries and bargaining, Qiao Muzhou spent another 320 yuan and 270 yuan respectively to buy two Eagles.

One was a young eagle left behind in the autumn of that year, in good condition and in good working order.

The other one is a two-year-old snapper caught last year. It was not taken good care of when the cage was made in the summer, so only 60% to 70% of its feathers have been replaced, and there are still a lot of fuzzy hairs. Its feathers look mottled and its appearance is a bit unsightly.

To evaluate objectively, if we only consider the quality of the eagle, the eagles kept by a real eagle handler are definitely above the passing line. This thing needs meat to be kept, if it is a bad eagle, no one will waste meat to feed it.

Even that broken-down eagle couldn't find any major faults.

It just needs to be taken care of by someone who knows the business, otherwise, if one is not familiar with the habits of this flat-haired beast, even the most docile eagle will turn against its nature after a few days of keeping it.

In half an afternoon, three Big Eagles were purchased, and Qiao Muzhou's plan to form an eagle hunting team had taken a crucial step forward.

With these three big treasures, I can gather Wang Defa and the others together when I go home.

By then, once fresh game is caught, there will be a steady flow of cash every day. Qiao Muzhou only needs to make connections to provide hunting hawks and then arrange for people to go into the city to deliver the goods.

Before dark, Qiao Muzhou rejected Li Xiaochang's invitation to let them stay at his home for one night, got in the car, drove out of the village, and disappeared into the night.

Two days later, Yue Feng was watching the golden dragon training eagle in the new house. Xiaowen rode his bicycle into the yard with an anxious look on his face and pushed the door directly into the main house.

"Xiao Wen is here, sit inside and pour yourself some water!" Yue Feng greeted him.

"Young Master Ye, Young Master Jin! You are busy! Brother, I have something to tell you!" Xiaowen greeted them, then looked at Yue Feng with a calm gaze.

After years of interactions, the brothers already knew each other's working and speaking styles very well. Yue Feng only took a glance to tell that Xiaowen had something important to discuss with him, and it was quite urgent.

So Yue Feng said, "What's up? You guys play with the sculpture first, Xiaowen and I will go back to the old house!"

The two brothers left the north room and were on their way to the old house when Xiaowen couldn't help himself.

"Brother, a friend of mine just told me that Qiao Muzhou bought three Big Eagles from somewhere!
Gather Wang Defa and the others. This afternoon, a group of people were drinking at Qiao Saner's house!"

"Three Big Eagles?" Upon hearing this information, Yue Feng subconsciously frowned.

If there is only one eagle, it cannot scale up, the work it can do each day is limited, and the prey it can get is also limited.

But if there are three, it would be a bit dangerous.

With carefully selected high-quality eagles, at the current overall prey density, three eagles can harvest an average of more than 20 hares or more than 30 pheasants every day. If they are catching flying dragon birds or something, they can also catch dozens of live birds.

If the game of Yuefeng Hunting Team was not now consumed by their own restaurants, this game would be enough to threaten the market share of Yuefeng delivery.

Xiaowen nodded: "Yes, three big eagles, one rotten and broken, one three-year-old dragon, and one young eagle from that year!
Qiao Saner said at the dinner table that he bought it from Yingtun or somewhere else, so it’s not that far away!

Hearing this, Yue Feng nodded: "Okay, I understand!"

Yue Feng knew the place called Yingtun. Li Wenzhe, who was imprisoned in a fence, was from here. Qiao Muzhou must have asked around through his friends and found a channel to obtain the falcon.

"What should we do next? This grandson is trying to steal our business!" Xiaowen asked nervously.

You can't blame Xiaowen for being nervous, as this is directly related to his own interests. If everyone learns the craft of falconry and it becomes widely known, there will definitely not be so many prey in the mountains.

Yue Feng had already considered this matter when he decided to form a falconry team. As long as the skill of falconry was passed on to the members of the hunting team, this day would come sooner or later.

But I didn't expect it to develop so quickly, and Qiao Saner had set his eyes on this piece of fat meat.

Yue Feng said: "Don't panic! We won't deliver goods to the Second Canteen anymore, so we're not afraid of them taking up our share of the delivery! If they are willing to do it, then let them do it!
Besides, the big eagle is not the pine nuts in spring. It is easy to buy it, but it is not so easy to serve it!
The core things that cannot be seen behind the scenes, such as how to make food, how to feed the axle, and how to lift the frame, are only known to us. The person selling the eagle is not a close friend, so he will definitely not talk about the core technology casually.

If these key points are missing, within a few days, the eagle will not be taken care of well and will be lost if you let go!
Yingtun is not close to Fengcheng. Since Qiao Saner is willing to buy it and release it for fun, let him have fun!"

Xiaowen spat on the ground and said angrily, "I understand the truth, but I just can't get over this anger!

Damn it, I wouldn't feel bad for anyone who earns this hard-earned money by flying hawks, but it can't be Qiao Saner!
This grandson follows people wherever he goes, so there is really no chance to deal with him!"

Yue Feng consoled him, “Don’t panic, let him hop around for now, we’ll get the chance someday! Ask your friend to keep an eye on him, and when the right opportunity comes, we’ll give him a hand and let him know what it means to feel the pain!” (End of this chapter)

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